Spanish... "Naturally"

As mentioned under the 'My Family' tab, we are moving back to the USA in December... and although we are not officially homeschooling yet, I feel it is my duty (and would be a disservice otherwise) to make sure my 2 wee ones continue to be surrounded with the Spanish language. Up until now, I've just let the kids take in the language outside of our home by native speakers; however, it's about time for me to step up to the plate and take charge of this area myself. And although I've been exposed to, formally studied or have taught the Spanish language for around half of my life (!!!), I still have doubts about how effective I can be in successfully transferring this knowledge to my two little ones because I am not a native speaker... Get a grip, right?!?

OK, so I'm the kind of person who takes her time in making decisions and if I'm going to do something, I want to do a good job. I also need to have a plan (at least to get me started... then I can change things up a bit once I get going and see how things work in real life!) So I've done some searches on Amazon and ebay for Spanish resources to incorporate into our home education in the near future... books, poems, nursery rhymes, folk songs...

Also I've been doing a bit of Q&A with some folks online to gain some insight into how they go about teaching a foreign language in a natural context, no curriculum. I used the Discussion Forum at Simply Charlotte Mason (SCM) and posed this question. I got some really helpful responses. Thanks to Richele at Barefoot Voyage for a glimpse into her life, teaching her boys Russian as a non-native speaker. She schools in English until around noon, then the rest of the day primarily uses Russian. In addition, she incorporates Russian folktales, cartoons, audio stories and music throughout their daily life.

Another SCM member known as missingtheshire has taught her daughters German as a non-native speaker. They are now in high school and using a German curriculum, but when they were small, she just used everyday conversation with them and taught them the names of common objects in the house. Once they could read, she labeled items all over the house for them to see. In addition, she reminded me that finding someone to practice with (for myself as well as for them!) is a great supplement to keeping language skills honed.

I have also conversed a little bit with Silvia at Homeschooling in a Bilingual Home . Silvia, who is Spanish, told me from her own experience:

My daughters didn't speak much Spanish two years ago (and they are now six and almost four). I was devastated because when we went to Spain last time my oldest, four at the time, didn't have much Spanish, the little one had some words in Spanish and a great vocabulary at two. But now they seem to be flourishing in Spanish...

Silvia speaks to her girls in Spanish most of the day and incorporates additional opportunities to interact with each other, such as reading and hanging out with other Spanish-speaking families. She admits though, that oftentimes their homeschooling sessions are a mixture of both languages and that is totally fine. She knows that as they continue to grow and learn together, the girls will eventually be equally as strong in Spanish as in English.
 
Amy at Fisher Academy International Teaching Home has also been helpful in giving me her two-cents on the matter, as she's quite a seasoned missionary in Peru with 5 kids who are also acquiring Spanish as they all minister to and fellowship with Spanish-speakers. She states:

We'd been here for several years and [my kids'] Spanish was really quite sketchy.  Even though they heard it spoken, they would not speak (couldn't really). ... Honestly, my kids didn't hardly learn a speck of Spanish until they had Spanish speaking friends.  

In addition to echoing what others have already mentioned, Amy also tells me that they have family Bible time (in Spanish) together in the mornings, and afterward each child takes a turn in narrating back in Spanish! Of course this requires a greater command of the spoken language, but what a great goal!


Just recently I've come across another blog dedicated to bilingualism: MommyMaestra. The blog author, Monica, is a Latina homeschooler and has lots of great resources and links to other useful sites and blogs as well. Through her blog I found the Blogging Carnival on Bilingualism hosted by Letizia, an Italian, at Bilingual for Fun, which led me to realize just how many other moms and dads are dedicated to bringing up their children bilingually. 

In fact, just recently I encountered a gringo (white) family here on a 5-month teaching assignment. The husband grew up speaking Spanish since about the age of 5, and after he and his wife had their first child (now 5), he began only speaking Spanish to her. Now they have a son (2) and speaking Spanish to his children is automatic now after these 5 years. This is another motivator to me that in order for bilingualism to occur, I've got to get over the hump of that "unnatural" feeling, and after a few days/weeks/months, it will come to feel more natural that I speak Spanish with my children. (the habit of discipline on my part!)

So I wanted to share a really cool contribution by Letizia, entitled 8 reasons why you don’t have to be a native speaker to teach your child a language. Wow! This is the shot in the arm I was needing! Below are highlighted those 8 reasons she mentioned. You can go over to her blog to read up on the elaboration of those reasons if this piques your interest a bit :-)

1. Language is a living organism
2. There's not such a thing as a pure accent
3. Languages are a tool to communicate
4. You can and should provide multiple input for the second language
5. Children have an impressive ability to incorporate input from different sources
6. This might be the only chance at hand
7. Whatever your knowledge of the second language you can find the right approach for you and your family
8. If you really want it, you'll make it

 And so, although I've still got a few reservations as to how effective I can be, I'm more determined to face my fears head-on. I am also more aware now that there is a very experienced (and LARGE) community of dedicated parents in the world who are committed to the task of interacting with their children in a foreign language on a daily basis. Thank you to the select few that I've happened upon. You've been an inspiration!